MARS Flying Boat Operating in Southern California

[Silverplate]

The following pictures were taking of the MARS flying boats while operating out of Lake Elsinore in Southern California while performing fire fighting duty. The photos were sent to me and I do not know who the photographer was. They are however outstanding in every way! Enjoy!

[Ztex]

Those are from "GFYDAD" over at Fence Check....

http://www.fencecheck.com/forums/photography.php/topic,2576.210.html

[Forgotten Field]

Who needs online porrn when you can get photos like this? SWEEEETTTTT!

[Taylor Stevenson]

I dont see any wheel wells, was the Mars strictly for sea service?

[mustangdriver]

As far as I know it was. I have never seen beaching gear for these either.

[Silverplate]

As far as I know it was. I have never seen beaching gear for these either.

From the Martin Mars website:

http://www.martinmars.com/

What do you think the purpose of coming in that low so close to the shoreline. Is it because the lake is not that long? Seems dangerous and unnecessary. Cool as it is though. Just wondering why they would be so low.

[mustangdriver]

Very cool pic of the beaching gear. I would think the low approach is to get as much water as it can in a short lake. But that is just a guess.

[JDK]

What do you think the purpose of coming in that low so close to the shoreline. Is it because the lake is not that long? Seems dangerous and unnecessary. Cool as it is though. Just wondering why they would be so low.

Short lake long pickup/ landing.

They know what they're doing, BTW. They've been firebombing for 40 years...

It's a pure flying boat as well - not an amphibian.

Great pics.

[BrianB]

Lake Elsinore is about 3 Mi long at the longest axis, but much of this is shallow water and there is extensive development on the north shore. I wouls guess that the Mars was limited to 1.5 miles of usable water at best. The south shore is adjacent to Skylark airport, home of a large skydiving operation and there are several non flying DC-3's there as well.

[RyanShort1]

What do you think the purpose of coming in that low so close to the shoreline. Is it because the lake is not that long? Seems dangerous and unnecessary. Cool as it is though. Just wondering why they would be so low.

It does look low - but factoring in the size of the aircraft, that might be the "normal" place for a plane to be on short final to the landing point.

Ryan

[Curtis Block]

Wow!

[CAPFlyer]

They also have radio altimeters, so they know how high they really are.

[Lynn Allen]

They also have radio altimeters, so they know how high they really are.

Just like we do here in Texas, they use curb feeler's...

Lynn

[Wheels up]

Interesting to see an aircraft with a Canadian registration mark and a US flag......